“We need tremendous improvement in appropriately tracking and establishing the chain of custody for our documents,” Stipeche said. “There’s no system in place that shows when documents are checked out.”

Null-Lairson; MGT of America, a consulting firm based in Tallahassee, Fla.; and Mariga CPA in Houston conducted an $87,500, four-month audit of the way HISD purchases goods and services and awards contracts.

Moore’s report also found that confidentiality agreements auditors said were missing remain missing.

“What the report yielded is a lot of negligence,” she said. “We board members are responsible for billions of dollars spent on contracts that ultimately should benefit Houston’s school children. We can’t do that with documents walking away.”

“The project file did not indicate how pricing for the handwritten compilation was scored by the evaluation committee members,” Moore’s report reads. “There were mathematical errors on five of the individual scoring sheets. Please refer to the notes on Exhibit A for an explanation of these errors.”

Upon reviewing Exhibit A, a handwritten grid of companies and scores, Stipeche said, “It is preposterous that HISD staff would consider this an adequate way to award a contract. This is unprofessional beyond measure.”

Moore and his staff told Trustee Manuel Rodriguez that they discovered “it was hit or miss” whether an individual signed for a public document,” Rodriguez said.

“Sometimes they do, and sometimes they don’t,” said Rodriguez, who sits on the HISD board audit committee. “Sometimes they took the whole file (of documents), sometimes only part.”

Consistency will be among the remedies for the problem, Rodriguez said.

“From now on, people are going to have to sign for the whole file, bring it back and sign out,” he said.

HISD administrators told audit committee members that they will schedule an August workshop for trustees, Rodriguez said. That workshop will address procedures and regulations regarding document custody.

Superintendent Terry Grier said during a board meeting last month that it would take two years for consultants to conduct in-person visits to every district school. He said, as a former principal himself, those employed within HISD’s buildings know whatschools’ true needs are.That insight is “better than a walkthrough,” Grier said last month.Grier was on vacation Friday and could not be reached for comment.Board President Mike Lunceford is among those who said he needs more data about the Parsons report.“They visited 35 schools and randomly picked 20 other schools. How’d they do that? And was it fair and equitable?” Lunceford asked. “We’re the ones recommending this to voters, so I take it seriously.”The work would include about $577 million to replace eight high schools, about $354 million to “replace inadequate facilities” at four high schools, about $259 million to replace and renovate facilities at five high schools and $27 million to build two new high schools.“In its present incarnation, I have serious problems with it,” Trustee Juliet Stipeche said of the consultant’s proposal.Significant omissions from the Parsons study remain, Stipeche said. They include specific plans that outline how and on what the bond money would be spent and demographic and population projections for HISD areas targeted for new schools or schools identified as needing major upgrades, she said.

The projects would require a tax increase, beginning with a 2-cent hike in 2014 that would add $29 to the tax bill for a $200,000 home, HISD estimates. By 2017, the total tax rate would have increased 6.85 cents, upping the bill by $99 per year. (Find other home values and the corresponding increases here.)To put a bond before the voters in a November referendum, the school must take action in August, according to Texas election law.The magnitude of putting such a decision before the public “lends itself to needing a walkthrough” of individual HISD schools, Skillern-Jones said -- not just relying on computer models and staff surveys.“I wanted to see an objective study based on actually visiting campuses that’s worth $1.25 million,” Stipeche added.That’s particularly true when flaws exist in the 2007Magellan Reports data set Parsons used in its computer models, Skillern-Jones said. One example she provided was closet or janitorial space mistakenly being categorized as classroom space.

Magellan Consulting Inc., in Conroe, conducted a $3.2 million analysis of HISD’s facilities in 2006.Work onan $805 million construction bond HISD voters passed in 2007 is behind schedule and not expected to be completed until 2014, according to district officials.“I don’t understand the rush,” Stipeche said. “I want to support a bond. But I’m not going to support a bond just to support a bond if it’s a bad proposal. If it takes more time (to analyze what’s needed), then it takes more time.”Stipeche’s board colleague,Harvin Moore, disagreed with the idea of holding up work needed now simply because the 2007 bond projects aren’t yet done.“I don’t think that’s a good fiduciary responsibility for needs of children. This bond is badly needed,” said Moore, who supports the Parsons bond proposal. “Putting off urgent needs of the district is not a good idea. Why delay it if our children have needs? Unless there’s a belief that (the study) was done wrong, why delay?”He said he has questions that he hasn’t had the opportunity to ask. “I look forward to asking those questions. I’m sure Parsons worked with the district’s facilities folks” to prepare the report.“Everyone knows the Magellan Reports had some errors, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have value,” Moore continued. They are only one part of the overall picture, he said.Trustee Manuel Rodriguez plans to listen and learn during the 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. meeting scheduled for Tuesday, he said. During the 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Thursday, Rodriguez plans to ask questions, he said. Both are at HISD headquarters, 4400 West 18th St..“I’m still saying we need to go out for a bond,” Rodriguez said. “But I need to know more details, like the (Parsons) facilities report on the rankings of schools and how that compares to theMagellan Reports rankings. We need to know a lot more before we commit to any numbers.”

But Moore told the audit committee on May 24 that his staff still had not completed the investigation due to an illness suffered by a family member of an HISD employee.

Stipeche, who chairs the audit committee, said Moore told her on Wednesday that the report would be available at the next audit committee meeting on July 12.

Moore did not return a phone call and an e-mail requesting comment.

Juliet Stipeche

“I was willing to give (HISD staff) the benefit of the doubt due to the family crisis that occurred to the person spearheading the investigation,” said Stipeche, a Houston lawyer. “But I’m not going to wait any longer for the response. We need it now. We needed it yesterday.”

School board President Mike Lunceford, who served on the audit committee for two years before stepping down to head the trustees in January, said “it’s a valid question” to ask about the delay of the investigation.

“We haven’t seen anything,” said Lunceford, who added that he planned to send Moore an e-mail asking him about the investigation’s status. “They’ve been sitting on this a long time.”

“HISD needs to get its house in order and figure out who’s making decisions on spending dollars on contracts and tracking documents,” said Peggy Sue Gay, 52, a mother of two sons educated in HISD's gifted program and a member of the district's Gifted and Talented Parent Advisory Committee.

“If they can’t even do an internal investigation, then it might be a good idea to close these open issues before presenting their constituency a vote on a $1.9 billion bond.”

The work includes about $577 million to replace eight high schools, about $354 million to “replace inadequate facilities” at four high schools, about $259 million to replace and renovate facilities at five high schools and $27 million to build two new high schools.

The projects would require a tax increase, beginning with a 2-cent hike in 2014 that would add $29 to the tax bill for a $200,000 home, HISD estimates. By 2017, the total tax rate would have increased 6.85 cents, upping the bill by $99 per year. (Find other home values and the corresponding increases here.)Board President Mike Lunceford asked the Parsons consultants during Thursday's meeting whether they actually had visited the schools they recommended be replaced, or were their efforts “just a paper chase?”Trustee Rhonda Skillern-Jones also asked the consultants how they could know any school’s actual condition if they didn’t physically visit the building.And Trustee Paula Harris asked why the consultants decided some schools should be replaced even if they recently had major renovation work done, such as upgrades to their air-conditioning and heating systems.Parsons consultants replied that they visited “most” of the schools they suggested be rebuilt or undergo major renovations. But they did not provide the trustees or the public with a list of the schools they did visit.Time constraints dictated that Parsons personnel rely on computer modeling and responses by individual schools’ staff members to survey questions about their building conditions, the consultants told the board.They also said that recent renovation work might not indicate a school’s overall physical state.In interviews after the meeting, Lunceford andTrustee Juliet Stipeche each said they planned to conduct a thorough review of the bond information that Parsons provided before deciding whether they would support the proposal.“I just saw it for the first time,” Lunceford said of the bond data. “I want to make sure this is done right.”Stipeche added that she needed “time to analyze the proposal. It’s complex. I have to critique the evidence and do what’s best for the community.”Trustees hired Parsons in March for $1.25 million to conduct the HISD facilities assessment.Grier said it would take “two years” for consultants to conduct in-person visits to every district school. He said, as a former principal himself, those employed within HISD’s buildings know what schools’ true needs are.That insight is “better than a walkthrough,” Grier said.To put a bond before the voters in a November referendum, the school must take action in August.Work on an $805 million construction bond HISD voters passed in 2007 is behind schedule and not expected to be completed until 2014, according to district officials.

About $2.6 million worth of extra food exists in Houston public schools’ inventory, and the Houston Independent School District refuses to explain why.

Administrators for the Houston Independent School District told the school board on Monday during an afternoon meeting about the surplus -- which is enough to pay the annual salaries of 58 teachers on the lowest rung of HISD's pay scale.

But HISD officials did not explain how it happened, whether the food is perishable or what will be done with it.

“We bought something that didn’t go into the books,” board President Mike Lunceford said in a phone interview Tuesday. “Where is our inventory listed? There’s nothing in the (2012-13 recommended district budget). The income statement is the only thing (HISD administrators) supply.”

Lunceford asked HISD staff members several times who paid for that $2.6 million worth of food and how those food items are being accounted for.

“My question wasn’t answered,” said Lunceford, who added that he still intended to find out.

Lunceford said he would like district officials to explain the $2.6 million: “Are we serving more food? Better food? What are we carrying over (into next school year) in our inventory?”

“Rather than have our staff rehash the meeting again, perhaps you should contact board services (staff) to schedule a time to come listen to the audio recording to determine whether you might have missed something,” Spencer said in an e-mail.

HISD contracts with the Philadelphia-based company Aramark to manage its food service operations.

Ray Danilowicz, Aramark’s executive general manager for the company’s HISD account, is on vacation this week, according to his assistant.

Because of the way HISD administrators structure the food service fund, it functions like “a stand-alone business,” Lunceford said. That being the case, a balance sheet with assets -- inventory, for example -- and liabilities should be available, he said.

The district’s food services budget will hit almost $113 million next year, according to the recommended 2012-13 budget. Federal taxpayers will foot the lion’s share of the bill, $102.6 million. The district expects to bring in $9.6 million from food sales.

The school board is expected to approve a $1.524 billion operating budget for 2012-13 Thursday.

Those accusations would soon compose a disturbing complaint filed by the state against Peters, that he had failed to safeguard the results of the high-stakes Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills test at Harold Lang Middle School. The state was investigating whether cheating occurred at the school because of a high rate of test answers erased and changed. Peters disputed the charges and soon found employment with the Manor Independent School District outside Austin.

In October 2011, he was given a one-year probated suspension for failing to properly oversee storage of the test documents.Today, he is principal at Manor ISD'sDecker Middle School.

His case points to a larger question, of whether school districts do enough to vet applicants who have been embroiled in testing-related disciplinary disputes. Excising the system of educators with such blemishes on their records is a vague task, and the process and aggressiveness in checking teachers' backgrounds varies from district to district.

Jim Nelson

“If there were a contest between two qualified people, I would be careful of someone with any kind of mark on their record,” said Jim Nelson, former Texas Commissioner of Education and current chairman of the Texas Education Reform Foundation. “I wouldn’t want them in my district. You take these kinds of things seriously.”

The state has sanctioned 49 teachers and administrators for violating state testing rules between 2007 and the end of 2011, records released by the Texas Education Agency show. Penalties ranged from suspension or reprimand to a full revocation of their state certification.

In March 2008, when she was a principal in the Carroll Independent School District, Barton was placed on administrative leave pending an investigation into violations of state law regarding the testing and placement of special education students.She resigned in April 2008after being informed that an internal investigation found evidence of state testing violations.

Barton was accused of numerous violations of the state’s testing laws, catalogued in a 152-page case file that includes testimony from school staffers. The toughest accusations, though, were not proven. She was found guilty of altering the education program plans for her special ed students and given a non-inscribed reprimand, which does not show up on her license.

While it may sound like a grave misstep, the reality is not so serious; Barton mailed correspondence to a parent that was required to be done via phone. The reprimand is on appeal, as she hopes to clear her name completely.

"Teaching has become way more dangerous than it ever used to be," said Kevin Lungwitz, Barton's attorney, who represented her at her TEA hearing. "There are so many places for a teacher to get tripped up and investigated by a district."

Lungwitz, former staff attorney with the Texas State Teachers Association, said investigations that end up at the TEA are almost always first done by the district, which then turns its findings over to the state. He contends the process is unfair to teachers and administrators being investigated, who have no input during the investigation at any level.

"They all want to show at the end of their very expensive investigation that they found something," Lungwitz said. "Then the district fires the employee and ships it to the TEA. And for lack of resources, the TEA accepts the district investigation and runs with it."

He acknowledged there are serious violations that warrant the removal of a license - harming a child, for example.

"But there are all sorts of things that can go awry in the teaching profession."

The records of certified teachers can be checked at the state’s database for teacher licensure. Yet the records rarely show the severity or the specifics of a case, allowing the violators to continue teaching or administrating in Texas.

Jennie Owens, a teacher and administrator for 46 years, had her license suspended for five years, until 2016, after the state found she distributed questions from a test to middle school students in the San Felipe-Del Rio Consolidated Independent School District. She will be able to apply for reinstatement and, if it is granted, Owens will be available to teach.

Same with Sonia Sanchez, a principal at Cigarroa High School in the Laredo Independent School District. Sanchez, an administrator with 29 years in the school district, retired in 2008 just as a state investigation into TAKS abnormalities was launched. She was found to have prevented five students from taking the state test, and her license was suspended for five years.

Peters, the principal from Dallas, had an ally when he fought the state’s findings in Andrew Byung Kim, the superintendent of Manor ISD who testified on his behalf. Kim had hired Peters after getting a referral from the Cooperative Superintendency Program at the University of Texas, where Peters had been accepted.

The district did its regular background checks on Peters; “I believe the superintendent [in Dallas] gave him a good recommendation,” Kim said.

He said the testing investigation was being done after Peters was already at Manor, “and he was doing a good job for us.”

Much of Peters’ trouble stemmed from a failure to secure a room in which the tests were kept – a high erasure rate prompted the investigation, although there was no evidence that Peters erased answers. The state found "the preponderance of evidence shows that cheating occurred" on writing and math tests. There was a breach of security but no evidence as to who tampered with the tests.

Peters' case was bundled together with that of his school's test coordinator, Tameka Hunter, who was directly responsible for safeguarding the test materials. Hunter's desk filing cabinet and the key that matched desks elsewhere on campus made for extensive fodder in the state's report. That summer of 2009, as 400 students at her old school were retaking state tests Hunter landed a job with DeSoto Independent School District.

Two years later, Hunter's license was suspended for one year.

The state’s report pointed out that Peters had an incentive for improved test scores that went beyond professional standing – he received $6,701 in December 2007 and $10,000 in December 2008 for improved test performance.

Peters, the report noted, was also among hundreds of Dallas ISD principals reprimanded by the district in 2007 when a local newspaper series on district-issued credit cards uncovered widespread policy violations. He did not respond to an email seeking an interview.

When told by a reporter about Peters' involvement in the credit card scandal, Kim was surprised – not only had the background check not revealed that information, but neither had the conversation with the superintendent.

"This is the first time I have heard of this,” Kim said. The TEA report was not final at the time of Peters' hire.

The Houston Independent School District could have avoided a problem teacher if it had figured out early on that he was lying on his resume.

According to a TEA investigation, Adebayo, in his role as “unofficial head of the math department” at HISD's Key Middle School, had teachers go over the TAKS test questions with students in advance of the test.

The investigation also found that Adebayo “materially misrepresented his educational credentials" when he told his employer that he had a doctorate degree in mathematics and physics from Rice University.

The district said that Adebayo didn't state the Rice degree on his application but only on his resume, therefore it was not checked.

"We do check transcripts," but only on the information provided on the application, said Audrey Gomez, senior manager of HR operations. Transcripts are required because college hours and course levels for staff play a role in obtaining grants.

Gomez pointed out that Adebayo was being paid as having a master's degree, not a doctorate.

Houston schools trustees and administrators discussed next year’s $1.5 billion budget Thursday morning that would determine how many teachers could lose their jobs and how much of a raise teachers who remain employed might receive.But that public conversation was all but impossible to understand for others present.That’s because Houston Independent School District officials did not provide copies of the materials – which are public records under the Texas Public Information Act – during the meeting. The practice is legal, an open government attorney said.But “from a citizen’s point of view that is pretty ridiculous,” said Tom Gregor, a Houston lawyer who answers questions on open government from the public through a hotline provided by theFreedom of Information Foundation of Texas in Austin.State law does not obligate HISD, or any government entity, to distribute public records during an open meeting.

“But providing public information so people can follow the meeting would be in the spirit of open government,” Gregor said. “Withholding that information seems to serve no other purpose than preventing the public from understanding the information.”Texas Watchdog requested, during and after the meeting, copies of the same materials that HISD trustees and staff members possessed and referred to throughout the two-and-a-half hour budget workshop. District officials supplied them more than 90 minutes after the meeting’s close.Board President Mike Lunceford said in an e-mail that it would “probably make it easier for everyone else to understand” if HISD administrators supplied the public with the same documents the board has during openmeetings.HISD spokesman Jason Spencer said in an e-mail that he and district Chief Financial Officer Melinda Garrett intended “to make sure (reporters) have what you need to follow the conversation. If it's any consolation, I didn't have the documents either.”Spencer did not reply to an e-mail asking if members of the public would be able to obtain such materials upon request at open HISD meetings.

Garrett apologized for the unavailability of the budget documents.

“Normally we have them,” Garrett said via email Thursday night. “But I was out of town (Wednesday), and apparently wires got crossed between staff members. I think you know that we always provide copies to the public.”In an interview with Texas Watchdog following yesterday’s workshop, Garrett said the district’s projected budget deficit is $53.1 million for 2012-13. Garrett said part of the deficit has been offset by $18.4 million in one-time federal stimulus funds approved by the board in August to balance the budget.

The district received a total of $33 million under President Obama’s 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, Garrett said.

Trustees are considering a range of scenarios, including a 4-cent property-tax increase in 2013-14 that would put HISD in the black by about $160,000. Without that increase, HISD projects it would run a $41 million deficit that year.

“The tax increase is what would happen next budget cycle if the state does not change the funding,” Lunceford said. HISD officials have discussed a tax hike up to 4 cents since at least last year, when trustees chose not to raise taxes.

A 4-cent tax rate increase would increase the bill for a home valued at $197,408 by about $57 per year.

District residents currently pay the lowest property taxes of all 21 Harris County school districts, HISD officials say. District officials charge residents a tax rate of $1.1567 per $100 of taxable value.

Trustees are weighing whether to give teachers with 10 or fewer years of experience a raise of 2.25 percent and those with more than 10 years a raise of 1.75 percent. HISD officials granted some teachers a raise during the 2010-11 academic year.Garrett said a final budget proposal from HISD staff would be complete within days.Board members are scheduled to adopt the 2012-13 budget on June 14 during their regular monthly meeting.

Issa Dadoush presented a letter to his boss on Monday that excoriated the ways Houston public schools officials conducted their business operations, then resigned. Effective immediately.“I have addressed my concerns several times with no avail,” wrote Dadoush, who had been head of theHouston Independent School District’s construction and facility services since April 1, 2010.

He wrote his supervisor, HISDChief Operating Officer Leo Bobadilla, that the district’s “bureaucratic and gatekeeping philosophy” is “not sustainable,” “inefficient” and “exhausting.”“Our limitations on communicating directly with all stakeholders, including Trustees and other cabinet members, have made it impossible to move this Department to the next level of performance efficiency,” Dadoush wrote. “The ‘muzzle’ that was ordered on me and other department heads has made it impossible to do our jobs effectively.”Dadoush said this morning that he had no comment. Throughout his tenure, Dadoush had been accessible and responsive in answering questions from Texas Watchdog.Superintendent Terry Grier said via email that he “enjoyed (his) working relationship with Issa.” Grier declined to respond to Dadoush’s critique of HISD, saying that he does not “comment on personnel issues.”HISD boardPresident Mike Lunceford said in an e-mail that “Mr. Dadoush was very well qualified for his position and will be missed. I am asking the Superintendent to review Mr. Dadoush’s comments carefully because in all resignation letters there is always some truth to their concerns.”District parent Mary Hintikka was not happy to hear Dadoush had departed.“Issa Dadoush has contributed to much needed positive change in HISD,” Hintikka wrote in a Wednesday letter toTrustee Harvin Mooreand Lunceford. “I know LEED-certified architects in the community who say Mr. Dadoush was a leader in bringing green sustainable design and best practices to the City of Houston. It's my understanding he has helped to inject this much needed, overdue vision into HISD. … However, the politics, policies and practices of closed-door communication across the district is seriously problematic and impedes that vision greatly.”

LEED, or Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, is a system for measuring the sustainability of buildings used by engineers, builders and designers.

Dadoush summed up one paragraph in which he identified several structural shortcomings: “The bottom line, ‘we are spinning our wheels.’”Grier announced Dadoush’s and Bobadilla’s hirings two years ago in the same posting on HISD’s website.“(Dadoush’s) extensive experience will be valuable to HISD, as he will be leading the district's maintenance and operations, grounds, utility management, custodial services, and property management—all of which are important to creating a high-quality learning environment at every HISD school,” Grier said in the announcement.Prior to accepting his position at HISD, Dadoush was director of general services for the city of Houston. He oversaw facilities management there as well.Bobadilla held a position comparable to COO at Guilford County Schools in North Carolina. Bobadilla and Grier worked together in North Carolina.Dadoush steps down as district leaders consider whether to put a bond referendum to the voters for new school construction and renovations. Grier floated that idea earlier this year.“HISD is currently gearing up for the bond program work to be done over the summer at schools, and I hope this does not cause any setbacks or major problems,” Lunceford said.TheCouncil of the Great City Schools, a Washington-based nonprofit organization that advocates educating “all urban school students to the highest academic standards,”applauded HISD in May 2010 for hiring Dadoush. Council auditors had conducted a review of the district’s construction and facility services to offer ways HISD officials could make improvements.

Two recent audits of the ways Houston public schools officials do business will lay the groundwork for sweeping revisions to the Houston Independent School District’s methods of buying goods and services.

That’s just one of the approaches to improve HISD governmental transparency that Garrett and her team plan to suggest in a report to the board within a few weeks, she told Texas Watchdog after yesterday’s meeting.“We are working on our recommendations which we will cover with the superintendent soon,” Garrett said. “We will be addressing all items in the reports.”Other reforms the chief financial officer mentioned include archiving HISD procurement department documents and standardizing the forms HISD officials use to solicit competitive bids for projects, Garrett said.

The proposals come as district leaders consider whether to put a bond referendum to the voters for new school construction and renovations. Superintendent Terry Grier floated that idea earlier this year.

Null-Lairson auditors said questions arose in how district officials disseminated information about bids for work with the district among the public, board members and its own staff. They also found that “defined procedures” didn’t exist that outlined when and how board members and vendors may contact one another.